In the last couple of weeks I have become rather obsessed
with my twitter account and not because I want to tell people what I have just
consumed for breakfast.
Last week on the way to work I realised that I had forgotten
my annual season ticket (a piece of paper worth over £2000!!) and had to buy a
return ticket. I didn’t mind doing this as I knew that I had read on the train
provider’s website that they would refund in full the first ticket bought in
the case of forgetting my annual season ticket.
To be honest I forgot about the ticket for a few days and
then turned up at Clapham Junction station at the customer service to request a refund.
The abrupt lady at the desk told me that I couldn’t get a refund from here and
I must go back to the place where I purchased the ticket and discuss it with
them there. I was a little annoyed but it made sense as I presumed they had to
keep track of it somewhere. The following morning in Dorking I repeated my
story to the customer service desk. I was unhelpfully told that I would
need to produce my actual ticket as well as my receipt in order to receive a
refund. I have to admit that I sarcastically asked whether he meant the ticket
that had been “swallowed” by the ticket barriers in order to allow me to exit the station. He told me that I should not have used the tickets at the barrier! (Still trying to understand the idiocy of this comment!)
After a frustrating 5 minute conversation about how I would
not be receiving the refund I was entitled to, I left feeling let down and quite frankly, annoyed. It was at this point I turned to my twitter account
to tweet my annoyance at the situation directly to Southern trains head office.
I have used this tactic a few times and tend to get a fairly swift response and
so I wasn’t surprised when I got a public message within 3 minutes asking me
for further details.
I don’t know whether it is the fact that social media
customer service teams are often a dedicated resource or whether it is because companies
are more aware of the impact public negative feedback can have but I always
seem to solve issues with companies quicker if I do it online in a public forum.
Within 5 minutes of tweeting I had been sent a PO BOX
address in Bristol that I could send my receipt to and expect to receive a
full refund ... something that one of the face-to-face customer service team
should have been able to tell me. It would have saved a lot of huffing, puffing
and frustration.
On the other hand I recently read a story about someone who
received instructions from a company’s social media team that referred them to
another part of the business ... that then did not deliver and the person felt
even more let down and frustrated then before. There is also the worry that twitter's ability to give instantaneous responses could potentially be harmful if those using it are not properly briefed or trained.
I am interested to hear what your opinion is on the place of
social media within customer service communications? Is it revolutionising our
customer solution strategies or is it just making it more complicated with the
potential to easily damage their organisation’s reputation?
I would be interested to know your thoughts.
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